On 24th March 2009, the French association for the development of industrial and corporate sponsorship, Admical, presented L’Oréal with its 26th Oscar in recognition of the company’s outstanding, sustainable contribution to society. The award reflects the full extent of L’Oréal’s well-established philanthropy programme, which covers three key areas: scientific research, education and solidarity.

The Admical Oscars are awarded on the basis of seven criteria: continuity; originality; resources; employee involvement; contribution to society as a whole; relationship between patron and benefactor; and policy assessment.

Béatrice Dautresme, L’Oréal Executive Vice President and CEO of the L’Oréal Foundation: “We are deeply honoured and proud to receive this Oscar, which reflects L’Oréal’s long-running commitment to corporate philanthropy. The award encourages us to take things a step further in our drive to help others.”

An international corporate-philanthropy policy

L’Oréal’s corporate-philanthropy policy comprises a threefold approach spanning science, education and solidarity. The “For Women in Science” programme, first introduced 11 years ago in partnership with UNESCO, aims to promote women in science by presenting annual awards to five leading women researchers, one per continent. The programme has also granted more than 600 fellowships in 85 countries in a bid to nurture new talent.

L’Oréal is also firmly committed to education. The “Hairdressers Against AIDS” programme set up with UNSECO in 2005 aims to combat the disease through a network of 600,000 hair salons in 27 countries. All are in direct contact with L’Oréal and work to fight the spread of AIDS by providing simple yet effective information on prevention to as many people as possible.

As part of its solidarity campaign, L’Oréal uses cosmetics to restore confidence and self-esteem to those made vulnerable by life. Since 1989, the company has been an official patron of the “Look good…feel better” programme, which holds skincare and make-up workshops for women cancer patients. In 2008, the Foundation set up an exclusive partnership with Médecins du Monde to promote the “Opération Sourire” (Give me a Smile) campaign, which works to repair facial malformations caused by the ravages of war, sickness and malnutrition. L'Oréal will finance 17 missions in eight countries in 2009.